OSA News Releases

Welcome to the OSA News Releases page. This page contains news from The Optical Society, including research highlights from OSA's journals, conference news, award announcements and more. Sort releases by category below to see all the news releases in a particular area.

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The Optical Society (OSA) Board of Directors is pleased to announce that 101 OSA members, representing 19 countries, have been elected to the 2018 OSA Fellows Class. Fellows are selected based on several factors, including specific scientific, engineering, and technological contributions, technical or industry leadership in the field as well as service to OSA and the global optics community.

The exciting applications of wearable sensors have sparked a tremendous amount of research and business investment in recent years. Sensors attached to the body or integrated into clothing could allow athletes and physical therapists to monitor their progress, provide a more detailed level of motion capture for computer games or animation, help engineers build robots with a lighter touch or form the basis for new types of real-time health monitors.

“The Nobel Committee’s recognition of yet another type of biomedical imaging underscores just how important, and enabling imaging and microscopy techniques are to all areas of science and medicine,” stated Elizabeth M.C. Hillman, professor of Biomedical Engineering at Radiology, Columbia University, and general chair of the upcoming 2018 OSA BioPhotonics Congress.

Astrophysicists have long sought to detect ripples in space-time, called gravitational waves, since Albert Einstein’s 1916 prediction of General Relativity. But only some of the most massive astrophysical events, such as mergers of black holes and neutron stars, can produce gravitational waves strong enough to be detected on earth. Today, the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne, California Institute of Technology, USA and Rainer Weiss, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves."

Using DNA from salmon, researchers in South Korea hope to make better biomedical and other photonic devices based on organic thin films. Often used in cancer treatments and health monitoring, thin films have all the capabilities of silicon-based devices with the possible added advantage of being more compatible with living tissue.

Most of the processes that occur in the mind and body follow natural rhythms. Those with a cycle length of about one day are named circadian rhythms. The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded today to Jeffrey C. Hall and Michael Rosbash of Brandeis University, USA and Michael W. Young, Rockefeller University, USA, "for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm."

Albert Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity was validated for a fourth time according a joint announcement between the international LIGO and Virgo Scientific Collaborations. Only some of the most massive astrophysical events, such as mergers of black holes and neutron stars, can produce gravitational waves strong enough to be detected on earth. On August 14, the Virgo Collaboration, along with the U.S. LIGO observatories, detected its first gravitational wave signal from a pair of black holes violently merging over a billion light-years away. LIGO’s previous detections have stemmed from merging black holes but this is the first time a merger has been witnessed by three observatories at one time.

The 2017 OSA Laser Congress will offer a comprehensive view of the latest advancements in solid state lasers and other related technology. The conference program is comprised of a global audience of laser leaders and a comprehensive, peer-reviewed presentations. Market-focused sessions describe the needed technological and engineering advancements required to move these laser technologies into commercial products.

As the NASA Curiosity rover roams the surface of Mars, its ChemCam captures the chemical makeup of its surroundings with a specially designed laser system. It is the most powerful laser to operate on the surface of another planet. The burst of infrared light it fires lasts only a few billionths of seconds, but it is powerful enough to vaporize the spot it hits at more than 8,000°C. Even from a distance, the ChemCam can examines rocks and soil using a process called Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), where laser bursts atomize and excite components and spectral images capture their chemical signatures.

The 2017 Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science (FIO + LS) conference and exhibition concluded today featuring the latest in optics and photonics research and technology. With over 1,200 attendees, this year’s meeting has been redesigned to provide attendees with innovative elements, such as the new Science and Industry Showcase and Visionary Speakers, and new presentation formats to spur thoughtful conversation around a richer array of results.

A new imaging technique makes it possible to precisely digitize clear objects and their surroundings, an achievement that has eluded current state-of-the-art 3D rendering methods. The ability to create detailed, 3D digital versions of real-world objects and scenes can be useful for movie production, creating virtual reality experiences, improving design or quality assurance in the production of clear products and even for preserving rare or culturally significant objects.

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The Optical Society's (OSA) mission is to promote the generation, application and archiving of knowledge in optics and photonics and to disseminate this knowledge worldwide. The purposes of the Society are scientific, technical and educational. OSA’s commitment to excellence and long-term learning is the driving force behind all its initiatives.